SOME SCHOOLS LEARNED A LESSON FROM A STORM LAST YEAR THAT HIT AFTER SCHOOL HAD ALREADY STARTED. TODAY 40/29'S BRETT RAINS LEARNED THAT CHANGED THE WAY THEY THINK ABOUT CANCELING CLASSES. HE CONTINUES OUR TEAM COVERAGE TONIGHT. "our first concern is always the safety of students and whether they can get to school or get home safely" THE FORT SMITH DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT SAYS IT'S RARE, BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE, THAT SCHOOLS WOULD CLOSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY. "when students are in school they're in probably the safest place in town and there's no reason simply to release them into the elements just because it gets bad outside" BUT IN SURROUNDING DISTRICTS WHO RELY ON BUSSES TO TRANSPORT STUDENTS IT'S A DIFFERENT STORY. "our situation's a little different than Fort Smith, we have a lot of rural routes and a lot further to go" LAST YEAR DURING WINTER WEATHER GREENWOOD SCHOOL BUSSES COULDN'T DRIVE ON THE ROADS, LEAVING MANY STUDENTS STUCK AT SCHOOL. "the road conditions deteoriated so fast that we had to make a decission that we thought it was safer for us to have parents come pick up their children than for us to transport them on a school bus" "living here in the river valley like we do and the weather changes so drastically and so fast, we can't guarantee that we wouldn't have the same situation happen, we're trying to make the best decisions we can and follow the weather even more closely than we have in the past" REPORTING TONIGHT BRETT RAINS 40/29 NEWS IF SCHOOLS DO CLOSE DURING THE DAY TOMORROW THEY'LL NOTIFY PARENTS BY PHONE, TEXT OR YOU CAN FIND OUT RIGHT HERE ON 40/29.